


Survival in the City

by snarechan



Category: Final Fantasy IX, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-02
Updated: 2011-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarechan/pseuds/snarechan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sora, Donald and Goofy have a run in with a mysterious new figure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Survival in the City

**Author's Note:**

> This is _old_. Like, mega-old. I can’t even remember this story’s origins, much less why I chose to begin writing it. I think it was around the time KH was first released and then I updated it when KH2 came out. I forgot about it until recently. This wasn’t as shoddy as I thought it would be considering its age, so I found a stopping point and Keppiehed graciously checked this over for any obvious mistakes. Now I have one less fanfic cluttering up my documents folder. :D

Traverse Town.

As a kid from a small beach town, Sora saw the place as a metropolis of sparkling lights and architecture. Compared to the towering inns and two to three story shops, the house he used to live in had the look and feel of a simple hut; his playground islands were nothing like the many secret passageways and rooftops he could explore.

It had been a long time since he had been to either. Sora’s mission as keybearer had kept him from his seaward home, and he hadn’t found a reason to visit Traverse Town lately. Now that Hollow Bastion was manageable, almost all of his friends – Merlin, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck – had returned there to help clean up and clear out the Heartless and those newfangled creatures known as Nobodies. The world had also been locked, and when Heartless managed to find it again, the current occupants of the town were apt at handling them. If it got too unmanageable, there were a select few on the world who knew how to contact the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee for assistance, who in turn spread the word to him, if need be.

“Gawrsh, Sora, why are we going here? Didja forget something?” Goofy asked, interrupting his thoughts.

The place was special to Sora, which was why he’d had Donald set a course for it. It was the place where his journey had truly begun; he’d met his traveling companions, first learned to use the Keyblade, Merlin and the Fairy Godmother taught him about magic and summons, and he had found Riku after… Each new experience of his seemed to have originated there, and a part of him missed that.

He replied, “I just want to check up on it, that’s all. It’s been awhile since we’ve made sure it’s safe.”

Donald snorted, the sound coming out more like a honk through his beak. “I still think it’s a waste of time! If there were danger, we’d be told about it.”

“I dun know, Donald. It can’t hurt to take a break and look,” Goofy pointed out.

Sora was quick to agree.

“Besides, it’s not like we’re doing much else.”

It was a disheartening fact that’d worried him for some time. There were no further leads on Riku’s whereabouts, and most of the worlds he’d revisited were at relative peace. Not that he was upset by that latter part, but when he wasn’t killing monsters or helping someone, he felt like he was being lazy or selfish.

“Oh, phooey!” his feathered friend exclaimed, dropping the subject and concentrating back on the controls. “We’re here anyway, so we might as well.”

Sora peeked outside his side panel window to take in the view of the globe of nightlife, his eyes catching the major landmarks from space, such as the romance square in the Third District. It looked exactly like he remembered it and how he’d left it.

“Okay guys, let’s get crackin’!”

Seconds later they were teleported to the surface and landed in front of the large, wooden gates leading into the electric city. The double doors weren’t quite as tall or wide as he recalled, but he assumed that was due to his growth spurt. Together they pushed them open, revealing a quiet community of starlight and cobblestone.

No one paid them any mind as they wandered in. The townsfolk were used to seeing newcomers stroll into their midst. According to Leon, most of the people who lost their worlds were being sent to Hollow Bastion. The reasoning behind it was still unknown, but apparently a couple of random people still ended up there or it had been such an occurrence before that all were just accustomed to it happening, frequently or not.

Cid’s old accessory shop was still there, though under another person’s management, and the item dealership Donald’s nephews had been running had been converted into a weapons-only store if the sign outside of it was anything to go by. Besides that, the First District was unchanged. He could still see Geppetto’s gummi blueprint station tucked away in the far corner of the area and the small café over to left.

“Sure looks all right to me,” Donald grumped, his feathered arms folded stubbornly across his chest.

“Come on, Donald, don’t be like that! This is only one-third of the place. We still have the other neighborhoods to check out,” Sora replied over his shoulder.

He continued deeper into the sector, making his way up the several groups of stairs that would lead him to the set of doors blocking the way to the next section. It was barred for good reason, if past memory served. Beyond it laid the largest part of the town, where the inn, clock tower and the majority of the shops resided. Due to its huge populace, it had been a great hotspot for the Heartless, and due to the frequency of their attacks, it had to be blocked off. It didn’t completely stop all the dark beasts from leaking through, but it helped.

The trio passed into the Second District without further conversation. Goofy made sure to close them after they set foot into the region, just in case there were any monsters lying in wait and ready to rush past. Although silence was their sole greeter, the sheer quiet set the group on edge. At one time, Heartless like Wyverns would have already come diving down at them in a heartbeat – pun not intended – by this point.

“Can I say ‘I told you so’ yet?”

Sora squelched the urge to stick out his tongue at his shorter companion and instead planted his hands firmly on his hips, eying the large expanse of city with a critical eye. This place certainly hadn’t changed any, with accommodations such as the elongated inn well lit and welcoming as always, despite its unfavorable location. The clock tower with its bell was still standing and sturdy, despite the many times he’d fought battles there or rung the bell for fun, even after the fact he’d accidentally summoned a powerful Heartless.

“Hm… I think I’ll go down and investigate!” he declared at last, ignoring the walkway to his right which led to a set of stairs that went to the lower portion of the area. Sora hopped over the rail in front of him. Despite the startled squawking of Donald and Goofy’s ‘huh?’, he landed easily on his feet, narrowly missing a landing in the fountain. His friends weren’t as quick in following, so he took his time in walking ahead.

And that was when _they_ appeared.

The Heartless came in swarms of five at a time, the lot of them the tiny kind with antenna and beady yellow eyes. His leap was due more to his initial surprise than fear, as he was well-versed in handling this sort of darkness than any other. They were the type that’d invaded his and every world he’d come across. He was incapable of escaping them no matter where he went.

With the Kingdom Key in Sora’s grasp, his expert hands cut off the advancing horde at the fore. His sweep disposed of three, which were swiftly replaced double-time by their evil brethren. Thankfully, Goofy and Donald had finally caught up and flanked his sides, protecting his blind spots and enabling him to concentrate on what was ahead.

“Well, whaddyou know…” Goofy commented idly, smashing a Heartless between his large shield and the hard ground. “It’s a good thing we did come! There’s a ton of ‘em.”

“So, Donald, you were saying?” Sora asked, nearly breathless as he shoved off an offending creature that had leapt for his head.

“Humph! Just keep an eye on the enemy, Sora!”

Smiling at his small victory, he did just that and put all his energy into destroying the monsters – hacking and slashing, diving and crushing, tossing and bashing anything coated in black or gold-colored in the eyes. For all their efforts, though, more of the Heartless continued to spring up from the ground, crawling out like oil solidified. What really had him concerned was that they were getting larger. Very soon the creatures resembled a horrible black puddle that had them surrounded.

“You guys? Something is seriously wrong,” he called out, Goofy and Donald echoing their sentiments.

“Are they getting bigger, you think?”

“Of course they’re getting bigger, you dummy! Just look at the size of them, they’re almost as big as Sora now.”

Slamming the hilt of his weapon into the side of another Heartless, he watched as it turned into a mist that was once again taken over by another batch of the things. He despaired as he started to tire. His friends were looking worse for wear as well, for though they were blasting magic and banging into the enemy, their abilities took more strain than his. They couldn’t possibly last more than ten or fifteen more minutes like this.

“If this keeps up, we’re gonna have to make a run for it,” Sora said.

He was loath to admit it, but he knew deep down that he’d rather make a hasty retreat than risk his companions’ lives. Surrender always left a sour taste in his mouth, the action his last resort, if ever done at all. Mentally, he made a promise to himself that if it really did come to that, he’d return as soon as he was healed.

As chance would have it, such an act never became necessary. At first, Sora wasn’t sure what had changed, but something in the air or earth had alerted the Heartless to a far greater meal or threat than the Keyblade wielder and his allies; for one minute they were all battling to the death and the next many of the remaining smaller ones just stopped, save the bouncing appendages upon their heads. They twitched wildly in alarm and soon the majority of them caught on, their pause providing Sora with the advantage of taking them out, until even he slowed down to observe his surroundings. Unbeknownst to him, such a delay most likely saved his life.

There came a great shadow unlike the ones already crawling across the floor, the ominous sign of an aerial assault not falling on any of the trinity, and thus it warned them nearly too late. Goofy saw it before all of them and yelped in alarm before the attacker _slammed_ into the ground, the impact so profound it sent out a shockwave of at least six feet. The Heartless hit head on were obliterated, while the ones struck by the burst of power diminished much more slowly, but were completely destroyed nonetheless.

Sora and company were knocked back, aching, but relatively uninjured. Donald had been behind his canine companion at the time, who had raised his shield at the last moment to protect himself, and so they’d both landed on top of one another after the fact. Sora’s frame of mind had enabled him to raise his weapon, the magical key able to act as a barrier to prevent him from getting crushed as the Heartless had.

Dust and crackles of energy remained in the wake of the assailment and it wasn’t until its partial clearing that he was able to glimpse the new danger. Had he the energy to stand, he would have only ended up falling back again because what greeted him left Sora in awe. As the dirty cover was swept away by the wind, he started to make out an enormous, human-like figure.

Once it had dissipated, there stood a man so large he could only find the Beast to compare him to, his hair flaming red, with bulging muscle encased in blue skin adding to the effect his presence created. What that stirred in Sora’s breast had nothing compared to when he _stood up,_ his figure outlined and blotting out the stars above as whoever – or whatever – fully turned to regard him.

Lips thinning in determination, he steeled himself as he was approached. The giant strolled over at a nimble gait that shouldn’t be possible for someone so massive in size. A tightened fist was raised; his knuckles were covered by a peculiar but distinctly violent looking pair of brass knuckles that resembled claws. As he came closer, the brunet knew his intents and purposes quite clearly, and his good arm rose to meet his in combat.

“Sora, look out!”

Instinctively, he clenched his eyes shut, expecting a collision similar to the one that had occurred earlier between this man’s body and the ground, but instead he felt a cool breeze just clear his head. He snapped his eyes back open, chancing a glance adjacent to his body, and was surprised to see wisps of smoke gathering around the other’s hand until they disappeared. This stranger hadn’t been aiming for his head, but going for a Heartless that had sneaked up behind him.

“Thanks,” Sora murmured, his voice coming out calm now that he knew this person wasn’t here to kill him, too. At least, not yet.

“Hn. What’s a kid like you and his pets doing here?”

“ _Pets?_ ” Donald shouted, flabbergasted at the insult. “Why I oughta- Who do you think you are?”

“That’s none of your business.”

His duck friend was already fed up with this newcomer, numerous feathers flying off as he looked ready to charge and threaten the stranger’s wellbeing. He would have, too, had Goofy not thought it wise to grab hold of him and keep a tight grip on the back of his mage garb.

“You low-down-dirty, no-good-stinking-”

From experience, he knew Donald could go on like that forever if left to his own devices, so while he was steaming in the background Sora took over the introductions.

“Don’t mind him. Donald – that’s his name – is like that all the time. My name is Sora, and that one over there is Goofy.”

The man didn’t look impressed.

“Whatever.”

He proceeded to leave. Sora couldn’t explain it, but an urge to talk to this visitor overtook him. His gut had never steered him wrong, and so he took up the chance and jogged – seeing as that was the only way he could keep up – after him.

“Thanks again for helping us to defeat those Heartless. I’ve never seen fighting like that, it was amazing!”

The giant ignored him.

“So…you new here? I’ve been here before, maybe I can-”

“Save it,” he growled, or at least Sora thought he did. The stranger’s voice was deep to begin with, making it difficult to tell.

“Will you at least give me a name?”

There came no response as he walked on past, vanishing into an alley and leaving behind nothing more than a crater.

“Yeah, well, we don’t need your stupid name, you big palooka!” Donald said half-heartedly, now that the recipient couldn’t catch what he had to say.

-Fin-


End file.
